This will give your body the time it needs for your heartbeat to return to its normal resting rate, for your body to lower back to its normal temperature, and for your adrenaline levels to balance out, so you can get to sleep.

Give yourself at least 2-3 hours before bedtime: If you know that working out later in the day affects your ability to fall asleep, make sure you’ve scheduled your workouts so that you’ve got at least 2-3 hours to “cool down” before bed.

If you are one of the people who experience issues with falling asleep or staying asleep after workout out here are a few suggestions: Morning or early afternoon exercise can even help you better link your sleep-wake cycles, and as a bonus, if you exercise outside, you can reap the benefits of using sunlight to also assist in regulating your sleeping patterns. And indeed, if that is you, by all means keep doing your workouts in the morning or early afternoon hours. Many people feel that the adrenaline released during intense physical activity turns their brain on overdrive, making it difficult to fall asleep after their workout. What if I do feel like late-afternoon exercise is affecting my sleep?Īll the evidence in the world to the contrary doesn’t matter if you still feel like late-night or late-afternoon exercising is affecting your ability to fall asleep. So, while it used to be thought that exercising in the late afternoon or close to bedtime was something to be avoided because of its potential to overstimulate the body and make it hard to fall asleep, it turns out that isn’t exactly the case. And finally, that only 3% of those who got their workouts done late in the day reported sleeping worse on days that they exercised compared to days they didn't.

It also found that more than 50% of those who worked out “moderately to vigorously” slept better on days when they performed their workouts than on off days or days they skipped their workouts. The National Sleep Foundation's 2013 'Sleep in America' poll, which focused on exercise and sleep, found that 83% of participants who engaged in physical activity during the day (at any time during the day) reported better sleep than those who did not exercise at all. This, coupled with the fact that those who exercise daily may reduce their symptoms of restless leg syndrome (RLS) and even sleep apnea. This means that fitting in your workout, even in the late afternoon, can help you fall asleep, stay asleep, and sleep better overall than if you did not engage in any physical activity during the day. Exercise has been proven to improve not only sleep quality but also sleep duration. Here’s what the evidence says: on the whole, working out at any time of the day will, in fact, help you sleep. When it comes to things you’d like your body to be doing before sleep, however, those traits seem to fly in the face of sound judgment. Quick tips for no-timers: no cardio workouts, take a cold shower, and use our Heated Neck Wrap.Įxercise raises your core body temperature, stimulates the body to release adrenaline, and increases your overall heart rate – all very beneficial aspects of physical activity, and among those most commonly touted when looking into reasons one should begin an exercise regimen.

But is that truly the case? In this article, we’ll see what the research has to say when it comes to working out before bedtime and how engaging in physical activity late in the day can affect your sleep. Common sense dictates that doing something as vigorous as exercise will wake up the body and make it more difficult to fall asleep, especially if they workout late in the afternoon or close to bedtime. Traditional wisdom has told us that working out too close to bedtime can have a negative effect on our sleep – but is that truly the case?Ī common concern people have when just starting out with an exercise routine or when getting back into working out after a break is whether they'll be able to sleep after a workout.

Should i sleep after a workout